Pitch or Ditch for Sunday-Monday

Guys,

A reminder that Pitch or Ditch will be found exclusively on the blog this year. Each afternoon, I’ll be posting a new entry that focuses on the matchups for the following day. Here’s the first installment…Zach

SIANO’S PICKS (Bold = Pitch)

SUNDAY

Lowe atMyers

MONDAY

Santana atHarang

Cook atWebb

Lannan atNolasco

Maholm atWainwright

Zambrano atOswalt

Kuroda atPeavy

Lee at
Millwood

Meche atBuehrle

Shields atBeckett

Sabathia at
Guthrie

Verlander atHalladay

King Felix atLiriano

Braden atSaunders

***Cory agrees with all of Siano’s picks except Buehrle:

“He’s had an awful spring and the Royals are righty-heavy, they are going to put
the wood to him. Ditch.”

Akachazz, I take the Reyes-AGonz half. As great as Utley is, he is a health risk to some extent this year so Reyes is the clear-cut choice over him. However, Fielder vs. Gonzalez is relatively close, so I think that tips it in favor of Reyes-AGonz.

The fact that the Royals are righty heavy isnt really relevant in this case. Over the last couple seasons Buehrle has actually been better against righties than lefties. That said, I am concerned about Mark’s horrific spring as well. I have two spots left for this group of 5……Mark Buehrle, Wandy Rodriguez, Jonathon Sanchez, Jair Jurrjens, and Gil Meche. Any thoughts?

Thanks alot guys love ur guys work on the POD, welcome back sheads tears of joy. Maybe a weird question but with April weather It can be unsettling, do you guys first use a resource to check for weather conditions for the ballpark? and do you have a certain strategy for deciding which hitters to start/bench If you cant check ur lineup before the game, like If its supposed to be 70% rain in 5 ballparks just roll with your best hitters? I hate losing any AB at anytime during the season, nothing worse than benching a player due to weather and then they actually played.

POD question– Ditch Maholm? Is he a POD straight guy this year, or does he have potential to emerge as a productive, rosterable guy? I got him cheap in 1 league and he’s available in another, and I’m considering picking him up if and when a bench spot opens up.
What are you looking for from Maholm this year?

Phoward, Maholm is an interesting sleeper pick this year… his K/BB rate increased and his P/IP rate dropped for the second straight year last year, he gets a ton of ground balls, and he had an awesome spring. Oh, AND he’s a List of 12 guy this year! I’d even make him a “draft and follow” for now… see if he sticks as 4th/5th starter. Could be a Wandy type breakout this year.

No such thing as information that’s not worth using… if there’s a 70% chance of rain somewhere it’s not a bad idea to bench your lesser hitters and see if you can ensure the at-bats elsewhere. But, at the same time, I’d never bench Hanley Ramirez (for instance) if there was any chance of him playing that night.

Eerodynamic, that’s a very good point. However, I think it’s more relevant that the Royals are much better against lefties than righties… this is as much about them as Buehrle. Outside of DeJesus, Gordon and Jacobs, their entire lineup is righties or switch-hitters who do better against lefites (Crisp and Callaspo). But as you said, I think it’s Buehlre’s awful spring that makes this a “ditch” more than anything else.

Anyway, out of those five I’d take Wandy and Meche. Sanchez has some sleeper value due to his extreme strikeout rates, but you have to throw strikes, too…

Rick I’m not sure who you gave or got, and while I think that’s mostly fair value for both sides, I’d rather have the Cabrera/Gallardo half due to the youth and upside. Then again, getting the best pitcher in baseball and a solid 1B/3B (even if he doesn’t match last year’s numbers) is a good return. So who did you get?

Hey guys little disappointed Nationals going with Kearns over Dukes, do you see Kearns starting for awhile over Dukes, just wait It out? or I would maybe drop Dukes for another hitter in 10 team mixed? I love Dukes potential though

Not sure about BTS folks but I will send a note to our fantasy games folks and get an ETA.

As for Kearns over Dukes, I doubt that will last. Both are marginal in 10-team leagues though… Kearns due to his long track record of mediocrity and Dukes due to his lack of established performance over a full season. Cut both, move on.

Manoman… how many can you start? I think Oswalt, Nolasco and Liriano are slam-dunk starts, not PoD guys. Verlander is a good bounceback candidate so I’m willing to give him a few starts and see how he does out of the gate, but he’s not getting as much latitude as the other guys.

Oh Brett Myers. He killed me last year. If you remember Cory, we both ditched him the same week just before he became amazing in the 2nd half. I didn’t learn my lesson and I drafted him this year. Beguilled by those K’s I suppose. Now we have had one date and he blows up. What was I thinking?
12 team mixed vanilla. Trying to upgrade my rotation. I have been offered Carpenter + Werth for Weaver + T.Hunter. I see Werth and T.Hunter as being basically the same player, if anything Werth has higher upside. I have high hopes for Weaver, but the thought of a healthy Carpenter is tantalising.
What do you hear regarding Carpenter? Is he back, how many games will he start and will he outperform Weaver to make this deal worth it? Or was it just a great Spring and should I sit tight with the Dream Weaver? Awesome job on the new show BTW.

Hey guys,
I am having a MLB.com live draft tonight at 8 and I am picking 6th. I was wondering if this is a resonable plan for my draft:
1. Reyes/ Braun
2. Longoria
3. Kinsler/ Pedroia/ Phillips/ Kemp (or best available OF)
4. McCann/Soto
5. Rays/ Yankees (pitching staff)
6. Depends on #1 if i picked braun i’d go for **** (tulo) if i picked reyes i’d go for an OF
7. Votto
8. Another variable, if i picked a 2b mid 3rd i’d do an of but if i did an of i’d do a 2b (Cano/ Lopez)
9. OF
How does this look?
Thanks in advance,
The Manomanhttp://manoman.mlblogs.com

First, how do you like better this season … Daniel Cabrera or Livan Hernandez in a 4×4 league no strikeouts?

Second, I drafted Elijah Dukes and see now that he’s backing up Kearns (and all other OF) in DC. Would you drop Dukes to pick up Kearns in a 4×4 (no Runs)?

P.S. I like the pitch or ditch moving to the blog but since I’m in a weekly transaction league it doesn’t really help. Any chance you could share thoughts on two start pitchers at the beginning of the week? I frequently evaluate dropping my weakest starter for two start SP and would love your guys’ advise.

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